Scottish Executive

Bute House

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what distinction is made between official and private use of Bute House by the First Minister and Scottish ministers.

Mr Andy Kerr: Official functions are those held in furtherance of Scottish Executive business or in providing hospitality to guests of the Scottish Executive or HM Government. The costs of official events are met from public funds. When the First Minister entertains guests privately the Scottish Executive does not arrange the events and the costs are not met from public funds.

Bute House

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what rooms in Bute House are designated for (a) the private use of the First Minister and Scottish Ministers and (b) official purposes only.

Mr Andy Kerr: There is no formal distinction between the public and the private areas of Bute House. Official functions are normally held in the drawing room and the dining room. There is a limited amount of office accommodation to provide support when Cabinet meets or other official functions are being held. The First Minister is entitled to use any part of his official residence for private purposes.

Economy

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the revision of gross domestic product (GDP) and gross value added (GVA) figures has on its estimates of government expenditure and revenue in Scotland for the period covered by the GDP/GVA revisions.

Mr Jim Wallace: The GVA figures used in Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland (GERS) are those published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which are used to apportion certain items to Scotland based on share of UK GVA.

  New estimates of regional GVA were published by ONS on 30th April this year. A comparison of the Scottish percentage of UK GVA derived from the previous publication in August 2003 (used in the latest GERS calculations) with these latest ONS figures is shown in the table below. This shows that the revisions are very small, and will not have a significant effect on the estimates in GERS.

  Scottish GVA as a Percentage of UK, 1995–2002

  

  
 1995
 1996
 1997
 1998
 1999
 2000
 2001
 2002


 August 03 publication
 9.05%
 8.96%
 8.82%
 8.64%
 8.50%
 8.42%
 8.31%
  


 April 04 publication
 9.06%
 8.96%
 8.81%
 8.62%
 8.50%
 8.41%
 8.28%
 8.26%



  Source: ONS

  A full analysis for the most recent five years based on the most up-to-date information, including the most recent ONS GVA estimates, will be given in the GERS publication in December 2004.

  As stated in answers to S2W-6394 and S2W-6395 on 29 April 2004, the revisions to the Scottish Executive GDP index are not relevant as they are not used in the GERS analysis.

Economy

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4485 by Mr Jim Wallace on 9 December 2003, what Scottish GDP would currently be had it increased at the same rate as the UK average since 1997, using the revised version of GDP.

Mr Jim Wallace: Based on the latest data available from the Office for National Statistics for the value of Scottish Gross Value Added (GVA), if Scottish growth had matched the UK average (excluding extra-regio) between 1997 and 2002, the estimated level of Scottish GVA in 2002 would have been £77.9 billion.

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards implementation of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Tavish Scott: The second annual report of the Scottish ministers on progress towards implementation of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 is today being laid in Parliament and will be made available on the Executive’s FOI website. The report describes the work that has been carried out during the year from May 2003 in putting in place the necessary infrastructure for the freedom of information regime. Good progress is being made towards ensuring that the implementation date of 1 January 2005 is met. Copies of the document are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32829).

Historic Scotland

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the key performance targets it has set Historic Scotland for 2004-05.

Mr Frank McAveety: I have set Historic Scotland the following key performance measures and targets for 2004-05.

  Measures

  Protecting Scotland’s Built Heritage

  

 1. Number of parishes where the schedule 
  of monuments of national importance will be reviewed, as 
  a pilot scheme
 10


 2.1 Revision of list of buildings of special 
  architectural or historic importance.
 Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park


 2.2 Resurvey of listed buildings Antonine 
  Wall proposed World Heritage Site and buffer zone
 Antonine Wall proposed World Heritage Site 
  and buffer zone World Heritage Site and buffer zone.


 3. No. of weeks in which 80% of Scheduled 
  Monument Consent cases resolved
 9


 4. Percentage of Listed Building Consent 
  cases resolved within 28 days 97%
 97%


 5. Number of conservation plans completed 
  for properties in care 26
 26



  Targets

  Promoting and Presenting the Built Heritage

  6. Income from commercial activities: £21.5 million, with subsidiary indicators on:

  Number of visitors to staffed properties;

  Spend per visitor (admissions);

  Spend per visitor (retail);

  Other commercial activity;

  Friends of Historic Scotland income, and

  Market share.

  (Where the aim is to maintain market share based on a "basket" of heritage properties – ten Historic Scotland sites, ten National Trust for Scotland sites and 10 in other hands (with the basket being reviewed every three years))

  7. Performance rating from the Mystery Visit programme: 88%

  (using three-year rolling average)

  8. Performance rating from education visit appraisal forms: 90%,

  with subsidiary indicators on:

  the number of free educational visits;

  the number of properties selected for community

  learning development;

  the number of schools to benefit from the pilot free

  transport scheme, and

  the demand for resources from schools

  (including geographic spread).

  Agency Management

  9. Percentage efficiency gains/savings on non-grant expenditure: 1%

Information Technology

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive when broadband will be available to all communities in the Borders.

Mr Jim Wallace: Our broadband strategy for Scotland has accelerated the roll-out of affordable broadband across Scotland and we reached the coverage target of 70% of households announced in December 2002 ahead of time and below budget. A new coverage target for the whole of Scotland, which will include communities in the Borders, is being considered and we shall be announcing our plans shortly.

  Scottish Borders Rural Broadband, a project we supported under the UK Broadband Fund, has brought an innovative wireless broadband service to seven selected communities in the Borders, ahead of planned commercial provision. In total nine Borders locations will benefit from this trial of broadband via wireless technology.

Legislation

David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Acts of the Scottish Parliament have subsequently been amended by later Acts of the Scottish Parliament, giving details of each amendment.

Patricia Ferguson: I refer Mr McLetchie to the answer I gave to question S2W-8041 on 19 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Licensing

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations there are in respect of discotheques for young people under 18; what monitoring there is of such discotheques, and what changes will follow from the implementation of the Nicholson report and any other planned regulatory changes in this area.

Hugh Henry: Local licensing authorities have the power to license under 18 discotheques under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. This includes power to attach conditions to a licence which the organiser of the event must observe. An authorised officer of the licensing authority, the fire service or police may enter and inspect the premises at any time.

Population

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to address the decrease in the number of young people in the Highlands and Islands in light of figures from the General Register Office for Scotland that state that by the year 2018 there could be a 50% decrease in young people living there.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive and its agencies are working to deliver sustainable economic and social development in the Highlands and Islands, not least to attract and retain young people. This will attract and retain young people. Highlands and Islands Enterprise is working on a number of strategically significant projects to broaden the economic base of the area and generate high quality jobs and long-term opportunities for the young people of the Highlands and Islands.

  The Executive’s Fresh Talent initiative will also ensure that skilled workers and graduates who express an interest in living and working in the Highlands and Islands have the necessary information and support to help them relocate.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on external consultancy in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Mr Andy Kerr: Expenditure on external consultancy for the last five years is set out in the table.

  

 £ 
  Million


 1999-2000
 2000-01
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04


 2.6
 2.7
 2.9
 2.1
 1.6



  The figures are as recorded on the Scottish Executive’s finance and accounting system, and reflect standard guidance on the definition of consultancy applied across the United Kingdom.

Voluntary Sector

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the proposed Scotscorps initiative will be a good use of taxpayers’ money and will support, rather than compete with, existing volunteer-involving organisations.

Ms Margaret Curran: A key principle of Project Scotland concerns the need to complement rather than compete with existing volunteering organisations. The proposals are grounded in discussions with stakeholders in the private, voluntary and public sectors, and these will continue as programme arrangements are finalised over the coming months.

  In order to ensure maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme, the proposals also draw upon an assessment of a number of existing full-time volunteering programmes both within the UK and overseas, and extensive market research with young people.

  In addition the Scottish Executive will protect its investment in Project Scotland through the development of robust monitoring and evaluation arrangements. These include:

  the identification of annually agreed targets as part of the Scottish Executive’s grant conditions;

  an annual review meeting and report, and

  an independent evaluation in year three of Scottish Executive funding to examine the overall effectiveness of the programme, the extent to which it has met original objectives, and the effectiveness of organisational arrangements.